A Year Later And TransLink Has Not Learned – Desmond Must Be Fired

A year ago, the Canada line went ka-put in a snow storm and thousands of customers were stranded North of the Fraser River and all TransLink can do is advise people to walk a snow bound rail bridge, in a snow storm to get to Richmond.

This is unacceptable; in Europe this would have been illegal!

Kevin Desmond should shut up about new SkyTrain cars and capacity because the claims are moot when the damn thing doesn’t run!

The sheer incompetence of TransLink is appalling, but what is more appalling is that the Premier and the Minister of Transportation allows such incompetence to run the provinces largest public transit network!

Twice in three days, the Canada Line has called it quits during Mondayai??i??s evenings rush hour. Snow, again is the culprit, but really, that excuse is wearing thin.

By world standards, it isnai??i??t a lot of snow that has fallen (1 cm per hour) and with trains every three to five minutes crossing the bridge over the Fraser River, there should be no large accumulation of snow that would stop the metro.

Why is this $2.2 billion mini-metro not able to cross the bridge over the Fraser River when it snows?

In other jurisdictions, questions would have been asked in Parliament or legislature and demands made on operating authority to answer why this disruption is taking place.

But this is is a BC Liberal built mini-metro and the mainstream media remain mute, no questions are asked and the transit customer is once again treated like crap!

Translinkai??i??s total incompetence is breathtaking and again, TransLink CEO Kevin DesmondAi?? must resign or be fired

Comments

unexceptionable
un·ex·cep·tion·a·ble
not exceptionable; without flaw or fault; not warranting even the slightest criticism: sometimes used with mild pejorative force of something regarded as having mere correctness as its chief virtue

WITHOUT flaw or fault…

And your suggestion that if in Germany Translink’s actions would be illegal is so implausible I’d appreciate it if you could cite the law in question

Zwei replies: Putting passengers into a dangerous situation by order of the transit authority is deemed a criminal offense. In Europe, passengers are protected by law, not so here. The concept of passenger safety with TransLink is almost nonexistent.

It is why the Milan order failed, the EEC deemed the ALRT system to be unsafe.

Where the passengers guided across the bridge by Canada Line staff or were they just told “Richmond is that way” and sent across the bridge? Did Canada Line staff reply at all and the passengers crossed after receiving no information at all?

Zwei replies: As what happened to my wife last year, “You want to go to Richmond, take the bridge!”

She phoned me in tears and I eneded phoning the radio station. I did tell her to take the bus to the airport (TransLink must provide a bus to YVR, by contract) and double back to Bridgeport, to catch a bus to South Delta, but there was a steady stream of brave souls crossing the bridge like refugees! And the same bloody thing happened again this year!

The EEC, now the European Union requires that driverless train systems have an attendant on each train, so they can immediately respond to medical or passenger emergencies as well as take control of the train and drive it to the next safe station platform. This also helps when stranded passengers need information immediately!

Zwei replies: Thank you for this, I have been saying this for years, but have been called a liar and silly and that is by media types. “Why bother having an automatic system if you need attendants on board.”

I oppose eliminating the workers who operate public transit, notably the drivers.

But inaccurate contrasts between Vancouver and European systems do not helps promote better transit.

The Copenhagen Metro does not sound very different than Skytrain: “Although the trains are not equipped with drivers, there are stewards at stations and on some trains that help passengers, perform ticket controls and assist in emergency situations.”

It is classified as Level 4 automation by the UITP Observatory of Automated Metros, meaning no driver in the front cabin of the train and no accompanying staff are assigned to a specific train. In 2013 Level 4 systems in Europe were also in Lille, Toulouse, Paris, Nuremburg, Lausanne and Barcelona.

So while eliminating drivers is not a progressive development, it would seem things have changed since whatever rules were in effect in the EEC more than 25 years ago.

I can believe that Germany has better legal protection of transit passenger safety than Canada. But I am still waiting to hear what law in Germany prohibits a transit official from letting people know what options exist when transit service is disrupted. I’ve never been on it, but there is a pedestrian walkway on the Canada Line bridge between Vancouver and Richmond, and it presumably met the applicable safety standards in order to be opened.

Apparently the Translink staff did not think it was too dangerous to be used. Mr Zwei, you disagree. Fine, call for resignations, but please provide the evidence for your contrast with German law or just leave that claim out.

The real issue, of course, is that Zwei seizes on every opportunity to trash the actual Vancouver transit system in order to draw the contrast with his imaginary transit system. No would ever know from reading this blog that hundreds of thousands of car drivers are also stuck for hours on highways and bridges due to accidents and bad weather, or that transit systems in other cities are similarly disrupted by bad weather, maintenance problems and accidents and suicides.

Zwei replies: Dondi, you are so typical Vancouver, lost in the land of Lotus-Eaters. It is really sad because as the problems mount with TransLink, everyone walks away with a “I’m alright jack”, approach. You do not tell people to cross a bridge over a major river because of your incompetence. There is absolutely no reason why the train stopped – oh I could give you some, but you won’t believe it so not o bother.

If someone stops breathing you have 3:30 before brain damage starts and roughly 5 before brain damage due to a lack of oxygen becomes fatal. The TTC found out that if you don’t have someone on site immediately the transit authority is liable. That’s one of the reasons the TTC never had the Scarborough RT run without an operator/attendant. Hopefully a member of the public helps out isolated passengers in an emergency. But if no one is there or no one helps an injured passenger on a SkyTrain, the time it takes for an attendant to arrive may be too late.

Zwei replies: Two summers back, there were several stoppages on the Expo line and the customers were couped up in SkyTrain cars for 20 minutes until someone said to hell with it, opened the doors and evacuated. There are ample pictures of the rats leaving SkyTrain of the several events. The best TransLink could do was to threaten legal action against those who evacuated.

I do know of one person who complained and threatened legal action and TransLink quietly paid her off, but not before signing a non disclosure contract. I do know, if he same thing had happened in Germany, there would have been criminal charges brought against the operating authority.

Dondi be very careful about the driverless issue. Many transit agencies and some of their more financially conservative senior staff hold up driverless systems as a great way to Union Bust! It’s there and I have been involved in meetings as a consultant solely for this reason. Most North American transit authorities are desperate to cut ditect staffing costs as well as other personel related costs.

It’s often cheaper for transit authorities to skimp on passenger safety if they can cut staffing and operational costs. TransLink is just making the bet that most people won’t take the time and spend the money to sue them. I have no doubt unfortunately, that there were more than a few people were paid to keep silent over the bridge walking issue. I have been in this industry too long and know from painful experience that Zero is most likely correct about TransLink. Yes, Zwei is right what TransLink did on that winter day was illegal and against CTA and Transport Canada rapid transit passenger safety regulations. I’ m just surprised Zwei didn’t sue himself!

Many countries have automated light metro. It is not outdated tech. One of the largest is in London called Docklands light metro. It doesn’t have drivers but does have an someone on each train that can manually drive it. The metro has been working well since the 1980′s.

It is not necessary to have drivers on trains for safety. There is ways to contact help on train for assistance in emergency. Train will stop at the next station and met by attendents. If train is stopped between stations, then translink can board train and drive it manually.

Zwei replies: If you remember, without attendants, people tend to abandon the the mini-metro system, then transit completely collapses.